


Jatne Satkr

by CallMeCaptainOrSir



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Genderfluid Character, Hair Braiding, I need more Depa content, Kamino, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Tup, One Shot, Prompt Fic, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 10:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15861480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallMeCaptainOrSir/pseuds/CallMeCaptainOrSir
Summary: Jatne SatkrMando'atrans: The best feelingCadet Tup discovered the concept of long hair and figures out something about themself with a little help from their friends.





	Jatne Satkr

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompt: I know its crazy but clones meeting a female Jedi with long hair and they’re like ”you can have long hair” and precede to braid it.
> 
> Thanks to [Captain Opal](https://captainopal-7568.tumblr.com/) for the awesome prompt, and sorry it took so long to write! My phone ate the first draft and I had to start from scratch :(

“Woah.” Tup leaned around the door as far as he could to catch another glimpse of the Jedi in the hall.

“Vod? We’re starting the sim, come on.”

“Dogma!” He grabbed his brother’s elbow and yanked him to his side. “Look! It’s General Billaba.”

“Yes, her visit was announced in the mess. We can’t start late.”

She was walking away from them. She moved like the others they had seen, smooth and serene, but there was something different about her.  _ Her hair.  _ It cascaded down her back in thick braids to her waist. Her weight shifted with it, the length swaying as she moved. Every Jedi had an otherworldly grace to them. She was somehow different. General Billaba was  _ beautiful _ .

* * *

 

“Any final questions for the General? Dismissed.”

General Billaba stood by the door as cadets filled past her. As sixes, they'd started to identify themselves. A mix of haircuts that just passed regulation and a some stubble on the eldest of the batch. Only a few had names. Tup’s was his most prized possession.

“Cadet.” The general’s voice was softly lilting but with an edge of command. “A moment, please.”

He could feel Dogma's stare burning into his back as his vod slipped past him.

“I sense you had a question, but you did not ask. I thought I'd give you a chance to do so without an audience.”

He twisted his hands into the fabric of his pants. “It's nothing sir, I...I just wanted to know how you get your hair like that.” The words left him in a rush.

“What's your name, cadet?”

“Tup, sir.”

“Well Tup, it took a very long time to grow it out, but I think it wouldn't take you quite as long.” She smiled at him, “Would you like me to show you how I put it up?”

He nodded quickly, “Yes please! I mean, if you don't mind.”

“I wouldn't have offered if I did. Come, sit down.” She pulled two chairs from the front of the room opposite each other. General Billaba pulled a handful of pins from her hair and the braids came loose, spilling down her back. “Hold these for me?”

Tup took them, carefully setting them aside. He watched as she tugged the ties free and unwound the hair. Unbound, it fell in heavy waves to her lower back. The ties joined the pins on the table and she settled across from him.

“If I do the first, do you think you can do the rest?”

“Yes sir.” He shifted to his knees. Even sitting, she was still a fair bit taller than him. The general divided her hair into three sections, one across the top and two below. One of these she pulled over her shoulder, dividing further into three. Her movements were smooth and quick as she twisted them together.

“Pass me a tie?” He did and she bound off the end. The general shrugged the braid back, “There. You get it?”

Tup ran his fingers through the loose hair gently, not wanting to hurt her. He had brothers, he knew how much getting your hair pulled hurt. “I think so.”

It was harder than it looked. Trying to keep even tension without pulling, keeping the sections neat without their long ends getting tangled. Braiding, Tup decided, was something that took practice. He wanted to be as good at it as the general was, one day. He tied off the end and let it slip through his fingers. Her hair was as soft as water, but like this it felt stronger than rope. His wasn't quite as neat as her’s but it was still lovely. Tup thought that it would have taken a lot of work to make the general's hair not beautiful.

“The last one you have to do a little differently.” General Billaba showed him how to hold the last section at an angle, so that it would twisted smoothly when she pinned it up. This one was a bit better, more even. She smiled at him again. Tup liked it when she did that. It was like General Ti’s smile, warm and affectionate. So different from the other instructors, whose smiles always held the promise of violence. She wrapped the braid around itself and showed him how to pin it in place.

“Now you take the other ones and wrap them around like this,” General Billaba took his hands and guided him as he pinned the last two braids in place. She turned back to sit facing him, still smiling that gentle smile.

“Thank you,” said Tup.

“I should be thanking you.” She leaned forward conspiritally, “Having your hair done is the best feeling ever.”

* * *

 

Troopers weren’t supposed to want. It was individuality they couldn’t afford. With their accelerated growth, it was barely a year before Tup’s hair brushed his shoulders. No one ever said anything about it, but he could see the worry in Dogma’s eyes. The Kaminoans tolerated the tattoos, the haircuts and facial hair. As long as it all disappeared under the armor. It was getting too long to hide in his helmet, but Tup would  _ not _ cut it. It was  _ his. _

The night before their final review, he found a piece of flimsi on his bunk. Wrapped inside, a thin strip of leather and a doodle of General Billaba, her hair pulled up into a knot on her head. Tup had no idea how Dogma found it, what he must have traded for the small privilege against regulation. They curled up together that night, a silent thank you for the gift Dogma couldn’t sign.

* * *

 

Troopers weren’t supposed to want. Tup was slowly coming to terms with the fact that they did anyway. They hadn’t cut their hair since that day with the general. Final review was far from the first time they caught flak for it, but, curled into their cyare’s arms as Fives twisted their hair into the braids Senator Amidala had worn when they saw her last, they couldn’t help but think General Billaba was right. There was no better feeling than this.

**Author's Note:**

> The switch in pronouns was intentional. I've been doing a lot with exploring gender recently, so expect more of that to show up in my work.
> 
> Come find me at [STAR KINGS](https://millicentisdone.tumblr.com/) to talk about anything start wars or leave me a prompt!


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